Mark 1:41-42
A
potentially explosive situation arose. Have you ever had this happen in your
life? One minute you are minding your own business and whammo, you are face to
face with a situation and you don’t know the outcome. It can be pretty
uncomfortable to be in that spot. And yet, most of us have been there at some
point in our lives. The unexpected arrives at our doorstep, and we haven’t
prepared a response.
A
man with an incurable skin disease has just plopped himself down in front of
Jesus. He has placed his fate in the hands of Jesus, hoping Jesus is willing to
cure him. He doesn’t have any doubts that Jesus can cure his incurable illness,
but only that Jesus might not be willing to cure him. Talk about low
self-esteem!
When
Jesus responds He is either angry or compassionate. There is some question
about which of two words Mark included here in the text. Having Jesus be
compassionate is certainly an easier fit for the character of Jesus. But having
Jesus be angry, perhaps at the man’s question of his willingness to heal him,
would also fit. And depending on which translation you are reading, one of
these two options was chosen by the translator. To be honest, we are not 100% sure
which word Mark used in this passage.
What
we do know is that Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man and the
disease goes away instantly. This is a very unusual thing. There are only two
recorded incidents found in the Scripture (Num 12:10-15; 2Kings 5:1-14). So for
Jesus to do it is remarkable. And being a visible disease, everyone present and
in the future would be able to attest to the reality of the cure. Mark wants us
to know that even the impossible is possible with Jesus.
Jesus
did something unnecessary during this curing process. He reached out and
touched the man. He could have just spoken to the disease and that would have
been enough. But Jesus reaches out and touches this unclean, rejected man. In
the process He Himself became an unclean, rejected man. Every person who knew
something of the Old Testament Scriptures and the prohibitions listed there
would know that the touch pulled Jesus into this man’s world in a way that no
other activity could do. Jesus fully identified with this man through a touch.
This
act of fully joining in with us is what being a servant is about. The servant
does the tasks that are assigned them. A servant enters the world of the master
and connects with the lowest portions of life. The servant does the cleaning.
The servant cleans the toilets, or the chamber pots. Jesus identified with this
man in this way so that we would know that He is able to identify with our most
undesirable traits. And in the process He takes away the shame and stigma
attached to that lowly thing that drags us down, that defiles us, that makes us
unclean.
But
we must be willing to allow Jesus to touch those shameful, hidden areas in
order for the cleansing to take place. He wants to identify with us in these
things so that we can identify with Him in His glory.